The reasons behind SARW’s appointment are amongst others the various activities conducted by the organisation since 2010 to tackle the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Great Lakes Region, including the Alternative Summit held in Kinshasa in October 2010, on the margins of ICGLR Heads of State Special Summit.

Extractive Industries represent potential wealth for SADC’s economies, with a variety of benefits, including industrialisation through value addition to minerals, job creation, export earnings, technology and skills transfer. For most SADC countries, mineral extraction and trade are not bringing in these benefits.

The mining industry contributes significantly to the hardship experienced by black women in rural areas of South Africa. For decades, mining houses have drawn in young black men for labour, only for many to return home sick, with little to show for years spent toiling underground.

Hypotheses about the resource curse hold that nat­ural resources have distinctive properties that hin­der development. A measure of natural resources should capture these properties and make it possi­ble place countries on a continuum from resource-poor to resource-rich. Arguably what is most dis­tinctive about the resources in question is that they derive from “natural” endowments that, because of their scarcity, can typically be sold for prices that far exceed the costs of extracting them.

Are sub-Saharan Africa’s abundant mineral and fuel resources undermining prospects for devel­opment in the region? An inﬂuential body of research asserts that natural resources curse the countries that possess them with a host of unde­sirable outcomes — from economic stagnation, to authoritarian rule, to violent conﬂict. Africa is no stranger to these maladies. With international commodity prices booming, its dependence on resource exports is unlikely to diminish anytime soon. Is Africa suffering from a resource curse?

Resource-rich countries are said to be more prone to negative outcomes ranging from slow economic growth, underinvestment in human capital, and environmental degradation to corruption, authoritarian rule, and violent conflict.

Behind SARW’s appointment are the various activities since 2010 to tackle the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Great Lakes Region, the Alternative Summit on the margins of ICGLR Heads of State Special Summit.

The mining industry contributes significantly to the hardship experienced by black women in rural areas of South Africa. For decades, mining houses have drawn in young black men for labour, only for many to return home sick, with little to show for years spent toiling underground.